Behind Bars
by fbis.most.unwanted
Summary: Dean and Castiel meet in prison.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Castiel was flat on his back on the hard concrete floor for the third time this week, which was less impressive considering he'd only been here for four. Surrounding him was a small crowd of inmates –small enough to not attract attention, but definitely large enough to do some damage-, most of whom he had never even seen before. Cas knew it was entirely his fault that he was in this situation in the first place. He certainly didn't enjoy it, but he never learned how to keep his damn mouth shut. Castiel didn't try to provoke anyone and kept his distance most of the time, though that helped him very little.

Cas could feel the blood begin to drip from his nose and trickle down to the top of his lip, some of it spilling over and spreading a metallic taste across his tongue. He braced himself as the members of the circle each took turns kicking him, surely leaving nice bruises on his abdomen and rib cage.

Castiel didn't just sit there and take it; he threw punches and thrashed his legs whenever he could, despite all of his efforts being less than productive. But that wasn't because he was weak, he was quite the opposite, in fact. Cas could take any one of these guys in a fight, but not six of them at once. He was outnumbered, and there was nothing he could do about it except wait until they got bored and moved on. Hopefully that would be sometime soon.

"How come nobody invited me to the party?" a gruff voice called out from somewhere behind Cas's assailants. A few of the inmates turned their heads, and all of them forgot about Cas for a second so they could get a good look at whoever had just interrupted.

Castiel craned his neck, but was still unable to see the owner of the voice, but whatever its source, all Cas could focus on was that the beating had stopped, at least for the moment.

Castiel propped himself up on his elbows, glancing over his shoulder and debating how far he would get if he bolted. Deciding that it's not worth it to make a break for it, he remained still.

Behind the group, a man emerged. He was tall with green eyes and sandy hair, but what stood out the most were the tattoos (undoubtedly acquired during his sentence) running up and down his arms. The arms that could probably snap his neck in a fraction of a second. The man's eyes fell upon Cas, and again, his instincts told him to run.

"Run along now," The man said, his eyes shooting daggers at the other inmates. However, they held their ground. "Before I break your legs."

One by one, they dispersed, grumbling inaudibly to one another as they went. Once they had disappeared, he reached down and pulled Cas to his feet.

"Thanks," Castiel said, brushing the dirt off his pants and wiping the blood from beneath his nose.

"What did you do to piss them off?" the man asked.

"They wouldn't shut up, so I kindly suggested where they could shove their opinions," Castiel answered.

The man let out a short laugh, briefly cracking a smile, "Yeah, that'll do it."

A moment of silence passed before the man asks, "What's your name?"

"Castiel," he replied.

"That's quite a name," the man said. "I'm Dean."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"So, what are you in for?" Dean asked, taking a seat across from Cas at the cafeteria table.

Castiel shifted in his seat, contemplating his answer. He'd been asked this very same question twice before by a couple of inmates who weren't Cas's friends, but would on occasion have brief conversations with him. Both times, Castiel's response resulted in bouts of raucous laughter from anyone in the vicinity who heard. Castiel pretended to find it as funny as everyone else did and gave a few halfhearted laughs, and he was thankful that no one else had bothered to ask in a while.

"Um, music piracy," Cas said, and as he predicted, Dean was laughing as soon as the words were out of Cas's mouth. Cas wasn't upset –god knows he would be doing the same thing if he were in Dean's position, but it was significantly less funny when he was the one doing time for it.

"Music piracy? Do they really arrest people for that?" Dean grinned, the remnants of his laugh still hanging in his voice.

"Apparently so," Cas replied, much to his surprise, finding a smile emerging on his lips.

"How long did they give you?" Dean continued.

"Two years," Castiel answered, a bitter reminder of the remaining one hundred unserved weeks of his sentence. Two years was a long time for a few albums and a movie or two. "Why are you here?"

"Lots of stuff," Dean said, flicking his eyes downward and stabbing his food with his fork.

"Oh," Castiel said. He decided to drop it, thinking that his question must have crossed some sort of line. Dean didn't seem like the kind of person who would be very withholding about anything.

After about a minute of silence that hung thickly in the air over their table, Castiel spoke, most likely only to alleviate the prolonged quiet that had begun to feel uncomfortable. "Do you have any family?"

"I've got a brother. What about you?" Dean said.

"No, it's just me," Castiel answered, relieved to have something to occupy himself instead of sitting in silence. Dean opened his mouth, prepared to continue speaking, but was interrupted before he could get the words out of his mouth.

"Winchester!" a guard called from across the room. Dean turned to look, and upon seeing who it was, let out a deep, exasperated sigh and reluctantly stood up.

"I'll see you around," Dean said to Castiel before he approached the guard and followed him down the hallway.


End file.
